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WALLA WALLA, Wash. - August Teague, the new nordic ski coach at Whitman College, doesn't mind setting his sights high.
"Our ultimate goal this season is to qualify three women and one of the men for the NCAA national championships," Teague says. "That would be a huge step forward for this team from a year ago."
Last year was Whitman's first season as a member the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, a collection of nine NCAA Div. I and II schools. Whitman is the only Div. III school in the conference.
The Missionary nordic teams failed to qualify anyone for the national championships last year, although Holly Brooks came ever so close. Brooks, back for her senior season, finished as RMISA's first alternate as a junior.
RMISA, the strongest of three NCAA conferences in the country, will send 21 women and 19 men to the national championships next March. Individuals qualify based on their top two finishes in both the classic and freestyle events. Each school is limited to sending a maximum of three men and three women to nationals.
For nordic skiers, the RMISA season begins Jan. 15-16 with the University of Nevada Invitational at California's Auburn Ski Club near Donner Summit. Four more events will follow - two in Colorado and one each in Utah and New Mexico.
Teague has tentative plans to take five women and all four of the men on his roster to the RMISA events. With ten skiers on his women's roster, Teague won't make final decisions on his early-season traveling squad until a team time trial on Saturday, Jan. 10, in Washington's Methow Valley.
In the meantime, four of Teague's skiers plan to compete late this week and next in the U.S. Cross Country Championships at Black Mountain near Rumford, Maine. The championships begin Saturday, Jan. 3, and continue through Jan. 8.
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"The talent level will be tremendous," Teague says. The field of competitors most of the nation's top skiers, many of them attempting to qualify for the U.S. World Cup team and other international championship events.
Other Missionaries planning to compete, in addition to Brooks, are sophomore Laura Valaas, senior Sarah Schoen and freshman Charlie Erdman.
Brooks and Valaas are Whitman's best bets to qualify for the NCAA championships, Teague says. Last season, Brooks placed as high as 19th (three times) and 20th (twice). Valaas placed as high as 20th in one race.
"I expect both Holly and Laura to have better seasons than a year ago," Teague says. "Both have looked good during fall workouts."
Valaas and Brooks posted surprisingly strong performances in a pair of North American Championship Series races in late November at West Yellowstone, Montana. The competition included members of the U.S. and Canadian national teams, as well as several top collegians from the western U.S.
Valaas placed eighth in the one-kilometer sprint and 13th in the 10-kilometer classic. Brooks was 14th in the classic and 26th in the sprint.
At this point, Schoen is No. 3 on the women's depth chart and the next in line at a possible shot at the NCAA nationals. Schoen, who missed last season while studying abroad, enjoyed her share of success in her first two seasons, when Whitman was still dominating the U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowsport Association.
Two first-year skiers, Emma Catmur and Emma Lohr, round out the top five for the women's team, at least for now. Three juniors - Sarah Hardee, Meredith Hyslop and Tara Gregg - return to campus in January after spending last semester studying in Europe. All three were members of Whitman's traveling team last season.
Others on the women's roster are senior Jayne Bormann, who missed her junior season while studying abroad, and sophomore Becky Dickison.
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Young and relatively inexperienced is how Teague describes his men's roster. Junior Conor Flynn, probably the most talented member of the squad, left campus at the semester break to study abroad. That leaves sophomore Alex Farnand and freshmen Jonathan Loeffler, Christian Nelson and Charlie Erdman as the only active members of the roster.
"Jonathan is probably our No. 1 at this point, followed by Charlie," Teague says. "Christian and Alex are at about the same level."
Teague graduated last June from the University of Denver, after four seasons with the Pioneers nordic team. Denver won the NCAA skiing title (alpine & nordic combined) in three of Teague's four seasons.
Teague's assistant coach this season at Whitman is Axle Wilhelmsen, a native of Norway who skied collegiately for the University of Colorado.